


Lie to me

by Reasons_Why_Im_Crazy



Series: how many fics can i drag out of ep 14? [2]
Category: Shake It Up! (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fix-It, One Shot, Soulmates, Writing on Skin, this is before season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reasons_Why_Im_Crazy/pseuds/Reasons_Why_Im_Crazy
Summary: He longed for his love just like everyone else, but he was patient. He was willing to wait if it meant less heartbreak.-AU - you have words your soulmate will say to you tattooed on your wrist. Once they're said, the writing fades away from your skin.
Relationships: Dina Garcia/Deuce Martinez, Gunther Hessenheffer/CeCe Jones, Rocky Blue/Logan Hunter, Ty Blue/Tinka Hessenheffer
Series: how many fics can i drag out of ep 14? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108388
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Lie to me

**Author's Note:**

> wow this is super short, but this is what happens when you can't sleep at 02.30 and read through soulmate AUs. i hope you guys enjoy it anyway. don't forget to give kudos and comments!

At first Gunther thought it was some sort of joke. The words are written on your wrist at an early age and kids at preschool gush over nothing out who could possibly be their soulmate, when they’re going to meet and how their wedding will be like. Tinka showed off her words to everyone who asked, never hesitating to brag about how romantic they were. 

Gunther on the other hand, hid his wrist and said he wanted them to be private. Of course, it didn’t take long for people to find out. Summers were too hot to wear long sleeved shirts, and kids are good at giving side glances. So rumours spread that Gunther Hessenheffer’s soulmate wouldn’t love him. That they were bound to each other but it was only one-sided love. As they began high school, Gunther hid his wrists the best he could, but by that point, the excitement for finding your soulmate was more private. People thought it was romantic to not have random people know what their words were. Hypocrites. 

A few people never let it go, of course. Knowing Cece and Rocky for so long, hurling insults at their soulmates were normal for them. They had gone far beyond  _ too personal _ to consider it a low blow. Cece didn’t even have a sentence. It was just one word _ “Ah” _ . Anyone could say it, and everytime she would perk up and be visibly disappointed when the words didn’t fade from her wrist. 

“Is it a moan, perhaps? Or like a scared shout?” She would mutter to Rocky. Rocky wasn’t in any better position. Not only did she have a single word, it wasn’t even a real english word. 

“What does  _ Zam _ even mean?” Tinka had all the rights to ridicule their words, but Gunther often stayed silent. He tried once to make fun of them but…

“You think we have it bad,  _ Mr. My soulmate doesn’t love me _ ?” It never got any further than that. 

-

Most schoolmates dated even though they knew they hadn’t found their soulmate. It was strange, according to Gunther. He had tried to ask people out, in hopes for them to say to his face that they actually didn’t love him, but they never phrased it like that. Sometimes it just hurt. So he stopped. 

It didn’t matter, his soulmate would come eventually. He didn’t mind being alone until then. Unlike Tinka, who waited for her true love like he did, but never felt settled. Always restless for affection, and love from family could not fill the hole of romance. He didn’t blame her, of course. He longed for his love just like everyone else, but he was patient. He was willing to wait if it meant less heartbreak.

Unlike Ty, who hustled around, chasing girls in hopes to find his soulmate. While helping Gunther flirting with Danielle, he told him he knew the simple phrase  _ “I will”  _ would come to him after the first date with the girl. If the words hadn’t faded after the first date, then he knew the girl wasn’t his. He wondered why he would break his heart like that, but Ty said he didn’t. He enjoyed their company anyway, that’s what’s nice about it. 

So, it felt natural to ask Ty to take Tinka out on a date. He never broke his own heart, and he made sure to not break any girl’s heart as well. Everything was casual, yet nonetheless romantic. Gunther could not bring himself to ask any other person, and once Tinka came home he understood why.

Ty asked if she would ever date him again and she hesitated, since they were so different, but in the end said she would think about it. Tinka came back inside clutching her upper arm. She had a frantic look on her face, but it wasn’t fear or pain. It was happiness.

“Ty is my soulmate!” she exclaimed, showing off her empty wrist, where the words  _ “I’ll think about it too, a lot” _ once were written. Words directed towards her but not said for her to hear. She hugged Gunther tightly. “Thank you so much! If you hadn’t asked him to take me out I would have never found him”

-

Gunther knew Cece lied to him the moment she asked him out to prom. Right then and there, she was so disgusted of the idea to be in a relationship with him she couldn’t even look him in the eye to ask him out. Rocky even had to step in and convince him to say yes.

And then he felt the drag, similar to when he paid Ty to take Tinka out on a date. It was the drag of destiny. Perhaps that was what Rocky felt as well. Perhaps that was the reason she thought Cece, of all girls who were desperate to find a date to prom, would be the best candidate for him. 

Gunther felt dread with each word he said to her. She winced at the compliments, cringed at his little remarks, and would refuse every single thing he asked her to do. When she was at her tipping point during the prom night, he was so sure she would confess. Instead, she confessed to something else. 

“Hey, I’m that idiot!” Gunther gasped, not even close to have thought of her being the one to send Bobschka away. With that in mind, he wouldn’t let her leave so easily.

“I’m breaking up with you. Have the dress launduried and return it to me” She fell into the trap, chasing after him.

“What? No no no no! You can’t break up with me, I was only  _ pretending _ to go out with  _ you _ ”

“Okay Cece. Whatever excuse you need to save your pride” Yet even when he said that, implied  _ she _ was the one liking  _ him _ , she didn’t say the phrase. His wrist ached and when he looked down he saw the inkblack words had turned red. He was getting close… 

Oh god, Cece is his soulmate. 

-

It was as Gunther babysat Flynn when Deuce found his soulmate. It was his and Dina’s first anniversary and right after eating with her, he burst through the door of Flynn’s apartment with one sleeve rolled up to his elbow and his jacket in the other arm. 

“Dina is actually my soulmate!” he screamed so loudly Flynn covered his ears. Ty, who ran right after him, shushed him angrily.

“Did you have to let the whole neighbourhood know?” 

“It’s not really a surprise” Gunther added and Deuce finally calmed down by looking at them all confused. 

“How did you guys know?”

“Well, I sensed it when we practiced your speech” Ty said and Flynn burst out laughing. 

“You had to practice your anniversary speech?”

“Well it’s not like it went well anyway. So, I put the ring on her finger and she said the words” Deuce held up his hands dramatically, and Ty rolled his eyes. “ _ You got good taste _ , and I felt the sting on my wrist! It felt like someone ripped off my skin. I was really about to cry!”

“You did cry” Ty objected. “It really doesn’t hurt that bad, it’s more like slowly peeling off a band-aid” Deuce ignored him and stared at his arm. 

“Who would’ve thought I got good taste was meant in a sarcastic tone?” He laughed and the rest looked at him skeptically. 

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?”

-

Gunther didn’t know much about Cece’s family life before high school. From babysitting her brother for months he had gotten very fond of him and his mother. He wouldn’t consider competing against Ty to be Flynn’s favourite. but he sure was up there, perhaps right under Deuce at least. Georgia liked him at least, perhaps just because he did the chores in her home better than the other boys, but it was at least good enough to ask risky questions. 

“I have noticed that divorce is pretty normal in America” Gunther had said to her when she came back home from work. He was drying off plates and would leave once he was done with it.

“It’s not where you come from?” she asked in a rather shocked tone.

“No, once you know who your soulmate is, you get married immediately. Sometimes it can cause trouble, but we never question destiny. Was your husband not your soulmate?” She paused first, but then Georgia showed him her empty wrist. 

“He is. It stood  _ Marry me _ on my wrist, and  _ We need a divorce _ on his” Gunther’s face fell.

“Oh… I’m sorry”

“It’s okay. When he proposed and my words disappeared, we knew it had to happen someday. No one told us the fading of the words could have years long intervals. Everyone we knew had them in the same conversation, sometimes even right after one another”

“Do you still love him?” Gunther asked and Georgia smiled are her wrist absently. She sighed. 

“I do. Maybe once Cece and Flynn are only enough to live on their own, we might move back together. Spend our last years together. But it’s not now. We need to live our lives just a little longer before we settle”

“That… makes me feel a little better about mine, actually” He slid his sleeve up first the first time in years to someone else. Georgia read his words with a frown, but then patted his back in a comforting way. 

“It just shows that marriage and law isn’t bound with destiny and love. I’m sure you’ll work things out with your soulmate”

“Thank you” he said sincerely. Hope sparked in his chest once again. 

-

They even added hearts to the scene. The whole room echoed with “oooooh”s, except for Cece herself who countered with an “ewwwww”. Gunther supposed he would’ve felt hurt if it wasn’t for the similar drag he felt saying yes taking her to prom. Glancing down at his wrist, he saw the ink had turned red once again. He received a high-five from their choreographer.

“I can’t say I’m completely shocked. After all, who can resist this?” Cece didn’t respond immediately, seemingly too shocked she had to take a moment to digest what he just said. 

“Me!! I can resist-” she proceeded to do the exact same motion he did. It was kind of cute “this! When I said I was in love I meant with  _ your jacket _ . You know that, you were there!” Gunther’s wrist ached and itched like a healing papercut. He was so close now, watching Cece furiously leaving her own apartment, claiming she was going home. Then getting back inside, realizing she was already home. 

They keep on watching the show, seeing Rocky ruin her reputation of a goody-two-shoes by each scene. Ty said they should dip and eat chips each time she claimed she never said those horrible things, causing him to get stomach problems at the end of the show. And so Gunther got this incredible idea. He dips a chip and holds it in front of Cece’s mouth...

_ “I don’t love you” _

When she said those words he brought the chip to his own mouth, eating it as he felt the stinging fade away from his wrist. Like peeling off a band-aid for two years and it’s finally off. He smiled but it wasn’t the cocky grin he had before. He felt like he was in a race and he was leading it. A warm sensation spread through his body like a soft wave. Relief.

Cece had yet to react. He knew she still remembered deep down what his phrase was, from years of mocking him, unaware she would be the one to say it. Gunther leaned back on the sofa, happy and content, and waited for his price. 

It was once after the party, once everyone had left, once the end credits began rolling, he got the last drag from destiny. An urge to obey the voice coming from the tv even though he hadn’t heard it yet. 

"Open your mouth and say Ah" 

_ "Ah" _

It came naturally, he didn’t even fight it, and his smile never left his face. He won. He knew it as he watched Cece's slender back freeze up. He knew she felt that stinging if a band aid being peeled off. And so she made a scene.

“This party was a disaster!” It was enough for Rocky to finally admit her tendencies of being a diva before she leaving the apartment with a hair flick. And so it was only him and Cece left. Here they are. Finally.

Cece sits next to Gunther. None of them wear sleeves. It’s impossible to hide their now bare wrists. Yet she doesn’t mention it. Perhaps in denial, telling herself it has to be the woman from the tv who’s her soulmate, or something. 

"I see you've managed to get rid of everybody so you can be with... Gunther" He keeps smiling, taking up his mouth-spray to give her the hint to drop her act. She doesn't.

"Do you honestly believe that I'm in love with you?" And to this, Gunther drapes his arm across her shoulders, showing off his bare skin, his skin free from all questions and mockery. He has her now. 

"Your wrist doesn't lie, baybee" Cece smiles through her frustration, rubbing her aching wrist.

"I can't believe it's  _ you _ , of all people"

"I can" Gunther admits, twirling a lock of her red hair around his finger. She doesn't push him away. "I felt a drag towards you the moment you asked me out to prom. I knew you faked it" 

"And yet, you said yes" Gunther shrugs.

"I figured you'd get tired and confess sooner or later. You were more stubborn than I imagined" Cece scoffs at this, shaking her head with a genuine sadness in her eyes. 

"It’s not changing anything. If I say I love you right now, it would be a lie”

"You don't have to. Now that we know we’re soulmates, we can work things out. Can't we?" He tilts her head up so they face each other. "Will you give me chance to turn a lie into a truth?" Cece’s eyes have a knowing expression in them. Knowing this will take a lot of time, and a lot of work. It’s saddening her, but it will be worth it. He would make sure of it. 

Finally, Cece nods, and abruptly presses her hand over his mouth as he leans in. She glares at him and firmly pushes him back. 

"Prove it  _ before _ trying to kiss me" Gunther can't help but to chuckle.

"I love it when you play hard to get"

**Author's Note:**

> here's what they all have written on their wrists, in case y'all got confused:  
> Gunther - "I don't love you"  
> Cece - "Ah"  
> Ty - "I will"  
> Tinka - "I'll think about it too, a lot"  
> Deuce - ”Wow, you've got good taste"  
> Dina - "And a beautiful ring like this belongs on a beautiful hand, may I?”  
> Rocky - "Zam" (I haven't thought of what Logan has because he's not relevant to the story)


End file.
